Address:
2500 Alexander Street
Owatonna, MN 55060
Phone:
507-446-7000
Steele County Detention Center is providing, or will soon be providing, tablets for inmates to make phone calls, participate in video visits, and exchange electronic messages. If you don’t see this facility’s tablet provider listed below, call the jail at 507-446-7000 for more information.
The tablets are connected to a server controlled by the facility, which ensures that all communications, whether phone calls or video visits, are monitored. Written communications may also be delayed for review.
While the tablet may be provided at no cost, there will likely be fees for continued use, particularly for entertainment and educational content.
Scroll down to read the Frequently Asked Questions and Answers about renting tablets for inmates at Steele County Detention Center.
Does the Steele County Detention Center have tablets for the inmates to use?
What can the inmates use the tablets for?
Are the jail’s tablets connected to the internet?
How much do the tablets cost to use?
Why do the inmates have access to tablets if they are being punished?
Do inmates have to pay for tablets that they break?
You can find information about the Steele County Detention Center’s tablet program at the top of this page. If there is no information about it, it is because they either have recently changed companies or are not yet providing this service for inmates. Call 507-446-7000 to confirm.
Inmates in jails and prisons are using tablets for all the communication services available such as video visitation, video phone calls, regular phone calls, and electronic messaging – which is like texting and email.
Tablets are also used for entertainment, such as watching movies, television shows, listening to music and reading e-books. It is also used for education, self-help information, and legal research.
No, they are not connected to the internet. All the messages, visits and programming goes through a system controlled by the company that provides the tablets, and through the jail. They control what each inmate sees. All messages are carefully screened and not delivered if the sender or the inmate violates jail policy.
For accessing visits and messages, the tablets are free to use. Each unit has many of them, all provided by the company that has contracted with the jail. Of course, the video visits and messages have a fee and those are paid for by the inmate’s family and friends who use the service.
That’s the question a lot of people ask and don’t fully understand.
The way the jail staff looks at it, is that if they can keep the inmates busy and distracted, it makes it safer for them.
Tablets also give them a certain power over controller an inmate’s behavior. For example, if an inmate knows that they will lose the privilege of having access to a tablet if they get into a fight or violate another rule or policy, they will be better behaved.
Tablets are one of the few things that make an inmate feel as though they are free, and they don’t want to lose the privilege of having access to one.
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IC Solutions
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JailATM
J Pay
NCIC
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Yes, if an inmate breaks a tablet, then they are responsible for paying for it. The money will come out of their commissary funds, so not only do they lose access to having a tablet as punishment, but they also won’t be able to purchase snacks on commissary.
